A new survey study has identified links between problematic smartphone use and low sense of control, repetitive thinking, and fear of missing out (FOMO) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2021, suggesting possible avenues for reducing the severity of such use. Julia Brailovskaia of Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on December 22, 2021.